A 23-year-old Sri Lankan cook allegedly raped his friend’s girlfriend at knifepoint after barging into her room in Jebel Ali, a Dubai court heard.

He faced charges of rape, making criminal threats and consumption of alcohol without a licence as he stood trial in the Court of First Instance.

The 23-year-old Belarusian victim, who works as a receptionist, said the defendant knocked on her boyfriend’s room door, asking for him. “I was there alone browsing the internet while my boyfriend was at work. The accused pushed me inside and closed the door and kept the key with him,” she told the prosecutor.

He put a knife on her neck and asked her for sex. “I tried to talk him into leaving me alone and I promised I would not tell anybody about his doing. But he pulled me by my hair and pushed me down on the couch.”

She also told him that her boyfriend’s roommate would come at anytime so it would be better for him to leave, but he would not listen. He then allegedly raped her.

When the room’s phone rang, she tricked him and rushed outside.

The accommodation’s Pakistani security guard said the complainant ran to him around 9pm on May 4. “She looked frightened and was shaking. She told me that a man barged into her room and raped her at knifepoint.” She then pointed at the accused as the one who raped her.

The accused then approached them and told the guard that the woman was lying because he found out she was cheating on his friend.   A policeman said the accused was very drunk when he quizzed him shortly after the incident was reported.

The case has been adjourned to October 27. - Khaleej Times